Mixi J. Applebottom's Blog, page 3

Chapter 35

Kelly barely slept that night, running over in her head what they had to do. They had to kill the witch. That horrified her. She had never wanted to murder anyone before. She didn’t want to murder anyone now.

But – what other choice did she have?

She needed Mark to help, he was the hunter. Restless, it was finally four in the morning when she woke him. “Mark baby, please wake up. I need to talk to you.”

He let out a bear roar, slowly grumbling. “Kelly what’s wrong? Is one of the girls sick?” He whispered to her. Rubbing his eyes frantically.

“We have to kill the witch. I think that’s the only way to stop this. You are already on the happy phase. Next is fear… And then you’ll kill us all.” Kelly swallowed and tried to hold back the tears. “I know that you feel really happy, but this is incredibly dangerous. And I am terrified. So far everything we know about this curse has been coming true. Over and over again. What are we supposed to do?”

“Why do we have to kill her? What if she kills us first?” Said Mark, and there was a subtle layer to his words. Like a tremble in his voice. Like a little hum from the television set twenty was left on too long. “What if she kills us? What if we die? Where will we go?” His voice held a soft hum of terror.

The sixth stage.

“What are we going to do if you get to the next stage?” Whimpered Kelly. “What are we going to do? How can I stop you from killing us? Or can I? Do you know if this stage will wear off, or will you just try to kill us for the rest of your life?”

“I think you can’t stop me.” Said Mark, and he burst into tears. Like a frightened child. His body was trembling from head to toe. Kelly wondered if he would be stuck in inaction. If fear would freeze her husband completely.

Kelly could feel anger at his weakness. A big bright wave of fury. The anger was overwhelming, and she turned and almost strangled him right next to her. How could he be so weak?

This was the man she loved! No, she would never love this pathetic man.

And as he slowly cried himself to sleep next to her she laid with her fists clenched, desperately trying not to unleash her wrath.

Chapter 30

“Mark! Pull over!” Screamed Kelly. Fear was running through her, it was creeping in her throat, strangling her words.

“Okey-dokie.” Said Mark, as he casually stopped the car at the side of the road. “What’s the matter?”

Kelly never heard him, leaping out of the car chasing after Coralina. She hit the ground with a cry of pain. Her broken foot had been forgotten in her effort to get Coralina. Pain was crawling up her body. The girl was running. She stopped, only to turn and flipped off Kelly, then turned and started running again. Kelly was beside herself with exasperation, and pain. She could not possibly catch Coralina. Not by herself.

“Mark! Get out here and catch her!” She screamed, terror running across her voice. She had tears trickling down her face. Sobs wrecked her body as she laid crumpled outside the door of the van. Mark casually got out of the car, grinning the whole time.

“Okey-doke! I’d love to help!” He started running, at a happy pace. The same way he ran when they played tag. He seemed absolutely delighted to be chasing Coralina down the highway. Mark was loping along, practically skipping.

Kelly, was struggling to her feet, pulling the crutches out of the van. By the time she was hobbling towards them as fast as she could, Mark caught Coralina. Kelly could see them struggle. Mark with a grin frozen on his face, and Coralina’s big angry eyes. Her hands were clawing at his skin, punching him biting him. He just laughed.

Then he carried her back to Kelly. She kicked and screamed the whole way, as if she was an angry cat.

“Okay I caught her.” Mark said and he winked at Kelly. “You guys want to go out for ice cream?” He said with a grin.

Kelly let out a scream. “You fucking ass. I need my husband back.” The combination of fear, and ridiculous behavior of both of her people that she loved, was too much for her. She felt like she was about to have a nervous breakdown.

“But babe, I’m right here!” He said with a grin, winking at his wife yet again.

“Both of you in the car.” She said. “Don’t you dare let her get out again, Mark.”

Coralina bit Mark, and a little trickle of blood was running down his arm. But he did not even falter. “Okay-dokay! But then let’s go get some ice cream.” He said, and he happily trudged back to the minivan where Beth was cowering inside.

Kelly wondered if they would ever get to the witch, or if her husband would kill them all.

Chapter 29

As they drove down to the woods where they normally hunted, Mark suddenly had an epiphany. “Hey Kelly! I was just thinking. I don’t think that dollhouse is cursed. Or haunted, or whatever is wrong with it. I think, I think it was a blessing to come into our house.” Mark said, with a big grin. “Besides! Don’t you remember we are having a baby?”

Beth was the first child to say something, “a baby?” She said, utterly shocked. Kelly gave him a dirty angry look, they were definitely not planning on telling the children right away. He just grinned at her.

But Coralina exploded. Her fury dripping from a million different directions at once., “A baby! You can barely feed us as it is. You two are shit parents. What the fuck are you thinking! Do you not understand how babies are made?” Their tiny little child glared with such hateful intensity, that Beth curled away from her sister.

Kelly’s mouth dropped open as she turned and stared at her furious little girl. She had never even heard Carolina use a swear word before, much less be able to throw them out with such venomous perfection. Kelly couldn’t think of anything to say to her angry child. The hair on the back of her neck was rising, and she knew… She knew that it would come in like a hurricane. This curse. Coralina had just entered fury, and Kelly wondered how long until her husband was trying to kill them.

If they couldn’t resist it then they were dead.

“You are right!” Said Mark, with a big grin. “We are no good at birth control. That’s why we have a new one! Won’t it be fun? I think it sure will be! I’m sorry you’re not feeling super happy about it, but you shouldn’t be mad! This is a beautiful time of life. And I am sure that your mama is going to get another job so we can have food, or she will stay home and raise the baby. Either way, it’s a beautiful thing.” He said, practically giggling with excitement with every word. The mood in the car was an unwanted rollercoaster. Glorious delight pouring out of Mark, while fury brewed in the backseat. Kelly was mute with terror. Her little family was spinning out of control.

Beth was cowering in the back seat staring frantically at her father and then her sister, then again at her father and then her sister. She looked at her mom, with big frightened eyes and Kelly knew, that her youngest might crack. Beth understood that something horrible was happening to their family.

But Coralina was not done yet, “You bitch. Don’t you know how to close your legs!” She said and she reached forwards and grabbed a handful of Kelly’s hair with her unbroken left arm, and yanked it with all her might.

Kelly let out a scream, both of shock, terror, and pain! How could her own child be saying these things to her? She turned and slapped Caroline across the face. And then there was shock on her own face as she realized what she had done. She had never slapped her child before. Kelly instantly had tears running down her face.

“Fuck you.” Coralina said, and then opened the car door and jumped out while it was still moving.

Chapter 28

In the morning when they got up, they went downstairs to see the dollhouse sitting back in its place. Mark felt a small sense of relief. He was worried that the dollhouse would feel bad if he broke it, and he didn’t want anyone to feel bad. When Beth came down the stairs he tickled her and tossed her on the shoulder and they played for a while. “Okay honey gotta go to work.” He said to his wife who is still sitting on the couch, staring at the dollhouse. She was pale.

“Do you need some water, or something to eat before I go? I’m happy to take care of you darling.” He stepped between her and the dollhouse and smiled brightly at her. “Beautiful wife of mine, how can I make your day perfect?”

The wild look in her eyes paused and turned to his. “Don’t go to work today. Convince them that you need to stay home with me because of my broken foot. Take medical leave, whatever you gotta do.” She said. Her hands were clasped painfully together in her lap, the knuckles white, and she cocked her head to see the dollhouse behind him. Goosebumps were appearing on her skin.

Mark obliged. After all, he loved to make his wife happy. He would do whatever she needed. Whenever she needed. He was her knight in shining armor and he would always live up to that description. She was gorgeous, and loveable, sitting there on the couch, her sweaty hair plastered to her face. He stepped into the kitchen to make waffles, but Kelly stopped him. “No, don’t cook anything. We need to go see the witch now. We have to make her break this curse.”

“Okay, baby!” He said with a grin, and he kissed her on the forehead and called the girls down. “Coralina! Come on Beth, get your shoes on! Were gonna go on a little adventure.” He said with a bright smile. He whistled a happy tune while he helped Kelly and her crutches get to the car. Her movements were slow and her eyes were beautiful as they darted back and forth nervously.

Beth whispered to her mom, “Dad is being weird. He’s too happy.”

Kelly patted her quiet child on the head. “I know. I think it’s from the dollhouse. We have to stop before it gets worse.”

Beth stared at her mother with wide, terrified eyes. As if her father getting happier was the worst thing that could ever happen to them. Kelly understood exactly how she felt. It was like living with a stranger.

They all loaded into the rickety minivan that Kelly usually drove. It was a dirty beige color, and the interior had been covered by marker and vomit long before they even got to purchase it. It ran, slightly better than the truck. But not good. Nothing that they owned ran good. Kelly’s nose started bleeding as soon as she got in the passenger seat. She rifled through the glovebox and stuffed a McDonald’s napkin up it.

But Mark was chipper and put on his sunglasses, drummed on the steering wheel and they drove to the woods. The rifle was rattling in the trunk.

Chapter 27

Thanks for making dinner, the pizza was delicious.” Said Kelly, as Mark washed the dishes. He was whistling, and he seemed the happiest he had ever been in his entire life. Her stomach was churning, but she was hopeful that he would be capable of holding a conversation.

Both girls had already been put to bed, and was just the two of them downstairs. The obvious alarm on Kelly’s face, was meaningless to Mark. She was limping over to him, and trying to get his attention. He was whistling, and winking at her.

“Did you try to destroy the dollhouse? Why did you have the guns out earlier?” Kelly said, completely uncomfortable with her husband’s odd reactions.

“Yeah, I totally smashed it with the sledgehammer. The guns were for killing the witch, but I’ve decided not to, I don’t like the idea of killing people. I will destroy the dollhouse, again if you like! Is there anything else I can do for you honey?” Mark said with a grin as he finished drying the last dish. He winked at her and gave a her an awkward thumbs up, with his broken finger sticking out from his hand.

Kelly leaned on her crutches, but grew silent staring at her chipper husband. It was a complete personality transplant. Finally she said, “Stop smiling! I need you to take me seriously.”

“Of course!” He said, immediately forcing his face into a straight line. He picked her up and sat her down in the kitchen chair, her crutches clattering to the ground. Then he sat down across from her, held her hands, and stared into her eyes. “Baby, you know I want you to feel loved. Is there anything I can do to make your life more amazing?”

“Fuck you.” She said, completely uncomfortable with his weird attention. “Actually, could you stop this cursed dollhouse from killing us all? You do know it’s coming don’t you? One of us is going to snap and murder the others. How can we stop it? How do we stop it? I need your help. Please take it serious.”

Mark’s eyes grew soft, with concern pouring out them. “Baby, I always take you serious. You are so important to me. I’ll take care of the dollhouse right now.” And he smiled at his beautiful bride, and she cringed. Quickly he tried to keep his lips straight. He started whistling happily again as he went into the living room and carried the dollhouse back to the driveway. She hobbled out on her crutches. He was desperately trying not to smile at her as he took a swing. The dollhouse shattered, and exploded into tiny shards of wood and glass, once again. He took his time and soon it was barely useful for kindling. At one point, he hit it so hard that the concrete below the dollhouse had an imprint of the hammer head.

“See baby? Are you happy now?” He said, looking up, covered in sweat. The smile wrapped around his face was bright and happy.

But her nose was gushing blood, and she wasn’t paying attention to him. She was hobbling back inside, on crutches, trying to stop the flow of blood out her face.

“Baby! What happened?” He said rushing to her side. Awkwardly, he grabbed at her, and tried to hug her.

“Get off me! You’ll knock me down!” She shouted. Blood was running down her face, on her shirt. “Get out of my fucking way.” She stopped trying to hold her nose and use the crutches to move faster. A dotted trail of blood was skittering underneath her. “What the fuck Mark. I need your head in the game. How the fuck are we going to fix this?” She plopped on the couch and tightly held her nose with one hand. “You only have two stages left until you kill us. You aren’t taking this serious.”

“I take everything serious!” He said with a happy little lilt in his voice. He kissed her forehead, then smiled at her. “Baby, I just destroyed the dollhouse. I’ll do anything for you.” He said with a smile. Happiness was practically glowing from his skin.

“In the morning, to take me to the witch. I hope she can help us. Because otherwise… We are so fucked.” Kelly said. Then she tottered up the stairs to bed.

Mark grinned, finished tidying up the kitchen and skipped up the stairs to see if his wife would allow him to rub her back. He take sex if she offered it to, but really she he just wanted to make her feel amazing. Like he felt.

She was crying, when he stepped into the room. But he couldn’t help smiling, she was beautiful. He was lucky to have her. They spent the night him comforting her with kisses and hugs telling her how wonderful she was.

But Kelly was terrified.

Chapter 26

Not an hour later he was sitting playing with the dollhouse, all grins. He felt so content. His problems had faded. Why was he worried about if he was a good dad, or if he was a good husband. It amused him that he ever worried if this dollhouse had cursed his family. But not anymore. Now, he was relaxed. Mark felt enlightened, almost high with pleasurable drug. If he could bottle this feeling up and sell it he’d be a millionaire over night. If he could’ve shared it with the world there would be no crime, there would be no pain, there would be nothing.

Just bliss.

He had figured out that if he spun the stool in the kitchen, the pantry would open. He was incredibly pleased with himself for figuring out the tiny secret latches in the dollhouse. But his phone started ringing. Who would be calling him at this time?

Kelly’s name flashed across the screen. He grinned, oh his lovely bride! “Hello honey? Are you having a good day?”

“You fucker, pick us up from the hospital.” Said Kelly, annoyance ringing through the phone. But it didn’t faze him.

“Okay baby, sure. Do you want me to pick up flowers on the way? It’s just… Such a great day out. We can stop at the park!” He said, completely enthralled with the idea of seeing his loves.

“My ankle is broken, and you dickhead. You ditched us at the hospital. Pick us up.” She said, her voice laced with threat.

Mark shrugged, “Okay, if you say so. I’m sorry that I left you there, I don’t even remember doing it. I’ll come get you right now. Then we can go for ice cream?” She hung up.

He came out to his truck and turned the key. The engine rattled like an old tuna can rolling down the road. There was a loud popping noise, and the sound itself was a big warm hug from his grandmother. He smiled and slipped on his sunglasses, drumming on the steering-wheel. He didn’t even seem to notice when he thumped his broken finger on the wheel by accident. The pain running up his arm from the cracked bone seemed miles away.

Not twenty minutes later he had his three favorite people in the car. And he couldn’t stop grinning looking over at Kelly. She had the cutest crutches. She was not grinning, arms crossed, scowling out the window like there was some sort of spider on the other side of the glass.

“You guys want to play game?” Mark said, his words were happy little bubbles bouncing from his throat. He wished they could go to a trampoline place. Or maybe Chuckie Cheese! They hadn’t been there in ages. “Or go to Chuckie Cheese?” He said, he could hardly stop himself, once he had the thought it frolicked out his mouth.

“Take us home you dumb shit head.” Said Kelly. “Girls, I told you this dollhouse is changing things, and I think it’s affecting your dad more than the rest of us. And we got to figure out… How to stop it.” She was seething, but refused to yell at Mark. In his current state it would be utterly useless.

“Okay, okay. That sounds like fun too! Maybe we could make pizza? I love pizza. Don’t you girls love pizza.? Coralina? Beth? We can put your favorite toppings on top. What if we make it look like a smiley face?” Mark started singing to the radio before they answered. He was drumming his hands, his broken finger knocking against it with out any regard to the pain. Kelly stared at him, and his permanent, glossy grin on his face.

The anger on her face shifted to alarm. But she said nothing, instead silently dipped into deep thoughts.

Soon they were home again, he was inside making pizza. Kelly poured over the books he brought home from the library. She was pale, and terrified. Every time she looked up at her husband, laughing and making pizza, she felt her stomach turn a little further. Beth left the pizza making session, and tugged on her mom’s hand.

“How did the dollhouse get fixed?” She whispered.

Kelly frowned. “What?”

“When you went in the doctor van, with the lights, daddy smashed the dollhouse. How did it get fixed?” Beth said, she had uncertainty in her tone, and shuddered slightly. She hesitantly stepped forward and touched the perfectly shingled roof.

 

“Go help dad make the pizza.” Kelly said, with a sudden hoarseness. She didn’t want Beth to touch that thing again. Her heart was caught in her throat as she stared at the house.

Chapter 25

I’m going to kill that witch.

Mark drove like a lunatic down the road, swerving and cutting off other vehicles. He didn’t give a fuck. He flipped them off, rage fueling his vehicle. If the engine stopped on this death drive, he had so much fury he could just pack the truck on his back and take it with him. He was superhumanly angry.

He was going to get his rifle.

And he was going to shoot the shit out of that stupid bitch. That bitch. Broke her ankle, and then… no, not that bitch. The witch. His eyes blurred a moment, and he took a breath. The curse wants him to kill the bitch, but he wants to kill the witch. It took effort to keep it straight. The tires screeched as he stopped the truck. He barely slammed on the brakes in time. The front bumper of his red truck dinged the garage door. He didn’t give a fuck.

The hair on the back of his neck was standing tall, like soldiers at war. His breath was fast and bursting from his chest in angry waves. And he could not hardly wait. The gun was calling him. He opened the door and slammed it with such force that the entire house let out a scream of pain. The same scream that bitch will yell. Witch, that witch. He stomped up the stairs and slowly spun the dial, opening his gun safe. He had three rifles in there, one for him, one for his wife, and one for his girls. They went hunting at least once a year, and at the bottom of the gun case was a nice large pile of bullets.

He grabbed his camo hunting jacket from the closet and he loaded up with bullets and he grabbed his gun. He held it up to his eye and adjusted the shot just a smidge, making sure that the scope was clean and ready to go. The rage inside him was so overwhelming he almost pulled the trigger just to hear the boom. So his ears would ricochet from the pain of the bullet leaving the gun. He felt so angry he could snap this gun in half with his two bare hands. With a smirk, he turned and stomped out of his bedroom and started to head down the stairs. And then he saw it – the dollhouse.

He felt the blood drain away from his face. It sat in the living room, perfectly unharmed. He remembered exploding it with the sledgehammer. Had there been pieces in the driveway when he drove up? Anger clouded his judgment, and he couldn’t remember. Had he even looked? His attempt to beat the shit out of it with a sledgehammer was ineffective.

The tiniest flicker buzzed inside his brain, maybe he was angry because it was one of the stages. But he shook it off and stomped his self down the stairs and he lifted the rifle to his face and he aimed at the dollhouse ready to blow it to smithereens. Not because he thought it would work, but because he wanted to shoot something right now, he wasn’t sure he could wait another second. And as he got that perfectly tiny shingled roof in his sight, he felt a huge wave of relief run across his body. It was like… It was like he had just orgasmed. It was like that very first time he kissed Kelly in the back of his truck. It was dirty, she was crass, and it was the most fun he’d ever had in his entire world. The relief, like a splinter was finally removed, sweet relief of the thing causing him pain suddenly slipping out of his flesh. He felt… Happy.

And he lowered the gun and he dreamily grinned.

Chapter 24

As Kelly rode away in the ambulance Mark decided he would follow her, but only after he finished a simple task. He was gonna find out if this dollhouse really was fucking cursed. Mark grabbed the thing and carried it out to the driveway. He pulled out the big fat sledgehammer that he used to demo. The long handled sledgehammer, and he positioned himself three feet from the wooden dollhouse when the big iron head smashed through the roof. It shattered. Little bits of wood splintering out in every direction like a firework.

And then Beth screamed. Mark’s eyes went wide, as he realized the look on her face was exactly the same as the look on his face when his dad for no reason known to him destroyed his most prized possession. The cycle of abuse. It was strong and well within his soul.

And he had survived it, and so would Beth. With fury, he swung again. This time hitting it like a golf club, smashing into the side of the house. Little tiny bits exploded, tiny pieces of glass and wood flying across the yard. Beth let out another scream, collapsing to the ground and sobbing hysterically. “Honey, I know you don’t understand but I just can’t explain it. I will get you something better.” A sick, calmness washed over him. He had survived it. She would survive it. If this was a cycle of abuse, well fuck it. The last stage of this curse was murder.

He threw the sobbing Beth into her car seat in the car, and went in and grabbed Coralina. Her shirt was soaked in blood, and her nose had either started bleeding again or hadn’t stopped yet. Once they were all inside his red truck and Beth’s muffled sobs was all they could hear. He turned the key until the engine started up its rat tat tat noise again. The clunking and grinding sound was getting louder, and he kicked himself for not dumping in more oil. But he needed to go to Kelly.

He put on his sunglasses, the anger and frustration blazing behind his eyes. “Ladies, I think that dollhouse is why we are breaking all our bones lately. I broke my finger, Coralina broke her arm, and now your mother has broken her ankle.” He said this with the kind of laced anger you would say to someone after they had destroyed something of yours, not the other way around. He and no compassion and no kindness in his voice. In fact, all he could feel was righteous anger. Fury from the heavens. The kind of anger that Christ must have felt at the temples.

Beth did not talk, as she never talked, instead choosing to stare out the window with big loud sniffles every once in a while.

“Shut up!” Mark shouted, his anger boiling out of him. It was coming off him like steam off of the casserole. He could not concentrate. The anger was all he could feel. How could Kelly have broken her fucking ankle! This was going to cost them way too much money. Here she wasn’t even working, and she was was racking up hospital bills left and right. First Coralina, then herself. He had the decency to break a bone and stay home, and deal with it himself! Where was her decency? A driver cut them off slightly, and his red truck tapped against the rear bumper of the car in front of him.

He wasn’t slowing down, he was accelerating almost pushing the car off the road in front of him. The driver in the front was waving their hands frantically and looking really unhappy.

“Well bitch, don’t cut me off you fucker.” He growled, under his breath. He could practically see the hate in the air lingering in front of him, like a spider web. He was clinching the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles and turned completely white, and his heart was pounding. He slammed on the gas and bumped against them again.

“Dad!” Said Carolina with a frightened little sound, “You’re scaring me.” Said Coralina, her nose still bleeding, her towel soaked in blood.

“Fuck you.” Mark said, and the first time in his entire life use the F word at his daughter, like his dad used to say to him. Cycle of abuse. No use stopping it now. She let out a wail. What the fuck could they do about it? Nothing. That’s what. Eventually the car in front of them turned, carefully driving away from the angry, caustic driver behind them.

Mark found a spot and parked. He got out of the car, and Beth got stuck for a moment in her car seat. He opened the door and picked her up, car seats still stuck to her bottom and he shook her, until the plastic little booster fell inside the car. He set her on the ground roughly. Slammed the door and locked it. “Let’s go.” It took everything in him not to slap her. Both girls were so stunned by the complete fury of their father that they held hands tightly together, fear coursing through their little tiny veins.

He should be out hunting that mother fucking witch. Instead of picking up his bitch. His broken ankle, useless, jobless, practically homeless, bitch. He had, never in his entire life, felt so incredibly furious. It took every ounce of his skill not to knock over something on the receptionist desk while he asked which room was Kelly’s. The secretary behind the counter, looked very concerned at him, as he clenched and un-clenched his fists over and over again, his broken finger sticking awkwardly out. Then they let him go down to her. To Kelly, the bitch.

“How bad is the break?” He said, abruptly, trying to control the anger that he felt.

“They just did x-rays, will find out in a minute.” Kelly said. “But probably won’t need surgery, is what he’s guessing. Probably just need to cast it.”

“Take the girls I’ll be back in a couple of hours.” And he turned and he left.

Chapter 23

Coralina had broken her right arm. His wife, Kelly had walked on the roof in her sleep, and he still had a fucking bloody nose. He drove back slowly holding his nose tightly.

He kept thinking about how he followed that old lady, the lady he thought was the witch. How he had contemplated killing her. He had her license plate now. What if she wasn’t even a witch? His mind was spinning around all the possibilities. What if he killed a woman who wasn’t a witch? His teeth were clenched painfully tight as he drove, and he realized he was hunched over the steering-wheel like an old man.

Maybe he was going crazy.

But if they were going to have a new symptom, or a new stage every day or so, which is what it looked like, and they were only about four days away from him killing them all.

Or five days from Coralina killing them, or six days from Kelly killing them all. Fuck. He needed to find that witch. She would have to cure them. Or he would do whatever it took.

His finger was throbbing, as he tried to drive one handed, his other hand clasping his nose. Mark was exhausted he hadn’t slept more than two hours in the last night. He’d stop by the house and grab his gun, tell Kelly his plan, then bring the witch back and have her fix this. With whatever the fuck witches did.

When he got there, there was chaos. Beth was crying, Coralina was screaming, and Kelly was nowhere to be seen.

“Girls?” He said, quickly checking Beth. She was covering her eyes, but she didn’t appear to be injured.

“Blood.” She said, with panic. He turned and stared at the kitchen, and there was a lot of blood.

“Daddy it won’t stop.” Said Coralina, between big hulking sobs. It sounded like she was practically choking to death on her own tears. And her nose was gushing. Stage three. Her nose was gushing blood. He grabbed a kitchen towel and press it to her face, showing her how to tilt her head and pin her nose.

“Stay like this. Where is your mother?” He said, bit of panic running through his soul. The shock of the blood everywhere, was lessened by his own knowledge that he had been gushing from the nose, and he was fine, not even lightheaded. But it was still unnerving. Why had Kelly left them? Why could she leave them like this? Where had she gone? “Kelly!” He shouted, hoping that his wife’s call would answer him.

But he didn’t hear anything. Finally he ran up the stairs, glancing around their bedroom, and he saw her foot sticking out from the bathroom door. He ran in, and she was unconscious on the floor. Her ankle twisted in an unnatural angle. Bone snap, stage two. Fuck.

She was slowly waking while he was shaking her. “You look like you hit your head, are you okay do you remember your name?”

“I remember your name, dickhead.” She said, with a certain amount of sass even as she reached up and touched her head. Pain ran across her eyes as she gingerly touched a large goose-egg forming. She shifted slightly and then pain ricocheted up and down her body. He’d seen her this way before, her body shuddered from pain. But only in childbirth. Right before they managed to get that epidural in place. He hated to see his wife in so much pain. Her eyes grew wide with shock, and she let out a whimper.

“Kelly, stay still. Your foot is definitely broken.” He was wrestling his cell phone out of his pocket, and called 911. Not fifteen minutes later Kelly was packed in an ambulance flipping him off subtly with a wink as she was wheeled inside.

She was gonna be okay.

But they, had to stop this fucking curse.

Chapter 22

He set up the ladder, and slowly climbed up. Kelly was standing at the edge of the roof, her arms outstretched, a grin permanently plastered on her face. “Kelly.” Mark said, trying not to scare her.

It took him two hours to get his wife off the roof. He almost called the fire department. She wouldn’t wake up, and he couldn’t carry her down a ladder. Instead of continuing to try and force her down, he sat on the roof at her feet, clinging tightly to her calves until she awoke. It was nearly four in the morning when she finally started stirring. Mark was terrified and tear streaked, and when she finally became aware of her situation she sat down with him. He wept hard, and held her, while she slowly looked around and tried to make sense of what had happened. “How did I get on the roof?”

“I don’t know, you were sleepwalking.” Mark had decided never to tell her that she had been consumed by a curse like a demon. Never tell her that she scaled the building like a demon. He involuntarily shuddered. She pressed her lips tight together but didn’t demand he explain, thankfully.

“Mark, I want you to go talk to the dollhouse guy again and see if we can do anything else. He seemed to be the most educated about this particular problem. And I believe you now.” she said, being the third person in their family to be on the roof in just a short few days.

He rolled his eyes, “Oh good, you believe me. I’m hoping we can stop it before you break any bones.” Said Mark. He was nervous, thinking about his pregnant wife snapping. Would the baby be cursed? Would it snap a bone inside his wife’s belly?

“I’m more concerned about the part of the curse where we kill each other.” Said Kelly, and then, she climbed down the ladder. Her movements were resolute, and she trembled slightly. Mark had been trying to avoid that thought.

What if he killed the things he loved?

He didn’t going to work that day, instead driving back to Mr. Vladimir’s home. This time he went at a respectable hour, Kelly’s idea. And it was nearly ten in the morning when he got there.

He knocked on the door and despite being able to see Mr. Vladimir in the window, there was no answer. He knocked again, more forcefully this time. Again Mark was left standing alone in front of the door.

Finally he shouted, hoping that someone would hear him “I am not leaving until you talk to me about the curse!” At that Mr. Vladimir finally opened the door.

But not all the way, he only opened it a crack. “Go away. I can’t help you. I don’t want to catch it from you.”

“Tell me what I can do to stop it.” Mark said, fear running through him in a cold wave.

“You can’t.” Mr. Vladimir said. And he started to close the door again.

But Mark put his foot in the way. “Tell me.”

“There is nothing you can do.” Mr. Vladimir hissed. “If you don’t leave I’ll call the police.”

Mr. Vladimir slammed the door. Mark cringed as the wooden door smashed his foot. He body slammed the door and pulled his boot out. The door clicked shut, nothing more he could do now. He trudged back to his truck angrily, fists clenched. But before he climbed inside he saw the little yellow bug. This, this he thought was the witch’s car. He took down her license plate. He was hoping he could look her up and find out more information about her.

He hated to go home to Kelly and tell her what happened. He was a failure, and he had gotten their family cursed.